1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for changing specifications of user information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some information processing apparatuses typified by image forming apparatuses retain user information, such as an email address and a login identification (ID) (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-323283). However, user information that is in predefined specifications, such as data type, data size, enterable character type, can only be retained in such information processing apparatuses.
However, different environments where user information is used may have different desirable specifications. For example, a desirable data size of a login ID may be 32 bytes under an environment with a small number of users, whilst 64 bytes may be desired under an environment with a large number of users. Also, for example, some environments retain one mail addresses for one piece of user information, whilst other environments are required to retain two mail addresses for one piece of user information. In a conventional technology where specifications of user information are predefined, to change such specifications, software using the user information is changed. However, changing specifications by changing the software may take time and cost.